Snow, Cat and 🇨🇱 Chile 🇨🇱

 Sunday we had our first snow of the year. Because of daylight savings we had a little more time before Church started and the girls were out to make use of the snow. They made those entirely on their own while Ryan and I got ready for church.

 

We had a nice visit from Auntie Alissa. Look at Jacob’s adorable red bow tie.

I love living where we do... I often feel like pinching myself to see these wonderful views. One of the things we’ve inherited since moving here is a cat. I’ve not been a fan of cats ever since before my sisters Hodgkin Lymphoma diagnosis cat scratch disease was put on the table as a reason for her swollen lymph nodes, but almost everyone out here has a barn cat at least to keep the mice in check. I’d been annoyed that it kept coming up to the house, but realized we’ve not done much to train it otherwise, so I spent some time today with Esther getting a wood box set up in the backyard as a shelter for it. I think she may be pregnant too, and I don’t want frozen dead kittens in my yard. The cat will be Esther’s responsibility. It is good for the girls to have animals to be responsible for.

We have been trying to travel the world culinarily with the girls, and being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints has been really helpful in that regard... since missionaries serve all over the world, some of the best "traveling" we’ve done is by inviting someone over who served in that country. They bring enthusiasm and love for the area, people and language and give us a real flavor for that country. Tonight we went to Chile with a recently returned sister in our ward named Taya. She was so nice to help me pick an authentic menu and show us pictures and speak Spanish for us. This coming Sunday we will go to Norway with another couple in our ward, and Trinidad, the Dominican Republic, and Armenia are coming up in the following weeks just from this ward. Our last ward provided us with Holland, Hawaii, Ukraine, Russia, and Malaysia. This is one aspect of homeschooling that I really love. I like being able to make the world their classroom.

End of October

 Lily has learned how to pick up chickens. :) I am happy with how much she enjoys them, and we are glad she doesn't pick them up by their wings anymore. These chickens are really easy going chickens, actually. I think it helped them to chill out being toted around over and over by the girls when they were young. The one Lily is holding lays green eggs. The girls love collecting the eggs.

 Esther's writing sample from Halloween. I am proud of her for starting to sound things out. Amy also wrote a poem for Halloween too, and her cursive is coming a long very well.

Lunchtime -- I was particularly proud of this one, because since Jacob's been born, it's been hard for me to actually make a good lunch for the girls. Amy usually makes lunch for her sisters, and can make sandwiches. This one was potato wedges, spinach smoothie, peaches and grapes.

Time Goes Fast in Retrospect

Life seems to go slow when you are in it, but there is something about looking over old photos that makes me realize that this time of life is actually going by fast.

Sudze in 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe 🇿🇼

We are trying to travel the world for teaching geography. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints actually is very helpful in this regard: we have often used returned missionaries to help us "travel" to these places, and they show us pictures and tell us what it’s like there, or speak some of the language. Well, on Thursday we traveled to Zimbabwe with two college girls I met at the Temple when Ryan was traveling in Ukraine. Emily served in Ukraine and Caitlin served in Zimbabwe. We had already made food from Ukraine, so we went to Zimbabwe. She made Sudze, boiled corn meal and we ate it with beef and diced tomatoes. She showed us pictures and it was great.

We will choose him again

I love the words to this song. They are powerful and true.

Small Magic Moments

 I’m realizing that motherhood is hard, but sprinkled with magic moments. That is the gold that you have to capture and hold on to... it's about perspective. If I’m focused on the messy house (it is almost always messy it seems, even if you try to clean it) then that’s all I see: I see the kids as little expert mess makers, but when I remember that they are God's children, that’s what I see. It’s what you choose to focus on.

 So I’m trying to see the magic moments and capture them.

My big helpers

 Amy has really morphed into a very talented, helpful big sister. She changes diapers, can run the clothes through the washing machine and dryer, and make some meals. She cares for the chickens and tries to play teacher to Lena. I'm grateful she can be so helpful. M

 Monta is also an incredible helper to me. Words don't express how I love and value her.